Mild winter conditions this year are having an impact on the agricultural season.
Sugar makers are hoping the warmer temperatures stick around for sap production. Meanwhile, fruit farmers are hoping for the opposite.
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“This is our first agricultural crop of the year the first harvest of the year is maple syrup and a lot of people like to get out and go see a sugar house go check on their neighbor see how things are going,” said Janet Woods, a sugarmaker at Hurry Hill Maple Farm.
Janet Woods said this year sugarmakers in our region tapped their trees early. During some warmer days in January when the conditions were right.
She said maple sap only runs when it’s warm during the day around 40 to 50 degrees and colder at night around 20 degrees. Woods said moisture helps.
We get a lot of snow in Edinboro because of our proximity to Lake Erie and the lake effect. Haven’t had much lake effect but we’ve had some moisture and if we get rain in the next couple of days that’ll really help,” Woods explained.